Community Voices: Give an extra 2 percent in your life

Friday

Feb 14, 2014 at 4:00 PMFeb 15, 2014 at 2:50 PM

Many of you already do community work, but I suggest a new approach called “The 2 Percent Solution.” Whatever good deeds you do, do them now with 2 percent more focus, interest and care. As I go about my daily work I try to do everything 2 percent better.

Recently, I caught a segment from the Centers for Disease Control on TV. The esteemed scientist/doctor interviewed was a former classmate of mine. I wasn't surprised, we all knew she would do something great, but I thought that I would do something great, too. All of us, with our youthful enthusiasm and certainty of purpose, knew that what we did would be big – involving nationwide policies, curing cancer, or influencing and ultimately bringing peace and justice to the whole world. As you might have suspected, my life has followed a different path. My life is not big, my influence is not global and my accomplishments are not earth shattering.

In fact, my life sometimes feels microscopic. At times, I bemoaned the fact that my life path did not end wars, cure disease or bring harmony to the Middle East. There is no contradiction between living a life that the world considers small, and making a big difference in the world. This is because the deeds we perform in our families and communities ultimately have a beneficial effect on the world as a whole. This epiphany helped me to put my "small" life into a greater context.

I worry about children starving in Africa, and I worry about children starving in Fall River, and make sure that I intentionally purchase food weekly to donate. I worry about violence and wars and I promote peaceful efforts right here in my community. I lose sleep over the suffering of crack babies, and I visit a neighbor with a baby in intensive care and offer some home-baked cookies. My own life experience has taught me the wisdom of the "Think Globally, Act Locally" approach.

During those "save the world" college years, I never managed to move past rhetoric and idealism to meaningful action. It took my microscopic life to help me move to a place where my actions caught up with my words. The most effective way to improve ourselves in a big way is to improve ourselves in a small way. We approach giant tasks by breaking them down into small bits; repairing the world benefits from the same approach.

There are many things that we want to improve, many causes we want to support, many individuals we want to help and when faced with the myriad, complex problems of society, we sometimes feel overwhelmed. I have chosen a few small actions that I can do to improve the world: donating weekly to a food pantry, reading to a senior who is losing her eyesight and mentoring an at-risk youth.

Although in the grand scheme of things, these little deeds might seem insignificant, one good deed does lead to another. Many of you already do community work, but I suggest a new approach called "The 2 Percent Solution." Whatever good deeds you do, do them now with 2 percent more focus, interest and care. As I go about my daily work I try to do everything 2 percent better. When buying food for the food pantry, I choose something that had good nutritional value regardless of the fact that it is more money than a can of corn.

When I read to my friend, even though I was busy, I take five minutes to look at pictures of her grandchildren. I texted my mentee just to say hi, even though we don't meet until next week. By dedicating ourselves to the daily, unglamorous grind of becoming kinder and more giving people, we can collectively create thousands of small waves that slowly but surely raise the global water level for all of humanity.

I still have deep admiration for the people who leave everything behind to work in under developed countries, or AIDS clinics, or peacekeeping missions. What has changed is that today I have developed profound admiration, as well, for my fellow citizens who toil tirelessly behind the scenes to feed a hungry neighbor, comfort a sick relative, and befriend a lonely widow – the kind of humble, forgotten heroes who generally only receive recognition from the ones who benefit from their kindness.

Wendy Garf-Lipp is executive director of United Neighbors of Fall River. Community Voices is a weekly column featuring experts and specialists from the community.